


Peggy's Thanks

by Cuppa_tea_love



Series: Operation Thanksgiving Extras [1]
Category: Agent Carter (TV)
Genre: F/M, Family feels and nostalgia, Fluffy like a little cloud, Quo Vadis Universe, Thanksgiving
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-28
Updated: 2019-11-28
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:41:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21582454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cuppa_tea_love/pseuds/Cuppa_tea_love
Summary: After Thanksgiving dinner comes dessert.  Peggy is fine with that.
Relationships: Peggy Carter/Daniel Sousa
Series: Operation Thanksgiving Extras [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1555930
Comments: 18
Kudos: 31
Collections: Fics from the Quo Vadis Universe





	Peggy's Thanks

**Author's Note:**

> This is another little supplement to my ongoing fic. I wrote it in a fit of inspiration one night, when I'd only just got underway with the whole thing, but I soon realised that it would be hard to fit it into the actual Thanksgiving dinner chapter when I get to it. It is unbeta-ed (there is no good way to write that word) and pretty much unchanged from when I originally wrote it, so please accept it in its raw form.
> 
> Posting as a sneak preview, as it’s set a day ahead of where I currently am in OT. Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers! (And to my non-American readers: don't worry, I'm baffled by the concept of pumpkin pie, too.)

“Now Miss Carter’s turn!” said Katie. “Tell us what you’re thankful for!”

Peggy smiled at her thoughtfully. “Do you know that this is only my fourth ever Thanksgiving?” she asked. Katie shook her head. “I’d heard of it, of course. The Americans I met during the war all got very nostalgic for home every year when it came around. Mostly I heard a lot of debating about which week in November it should be, and men pining for pumpkin pie. I didn’t think that sounded too bad, until I learnt that it was meant to be a dessert! I couldn’t imagine such a thing!”

“How come?” asked Charlie. “Hadn’t you ever had it before?”

Peggy shook her head. “You see, in England, when we hear ‘pie’ we think of meat: pork pies, steak and kidney pie. That sort of thing.” (Mr Jarvis made an approving noise.) “And nobody really grows pumpkin, except for animal feed. I couldn’t think why you would make a sweet pie out of a vegetable. I tried some of the tinned pumpkin filling they gave out to the army at Thanksgiving, but I didn’t think much of it.”

“That stuff sure was disappointing,” said Joe. Daniel and Jack murmured their agreement. 

“The first year I was in America for Thanksgiving,” continued Peggy, “I didn’t know anybody, so I didn’t have any plans except having a few quiet, lonely days to myself. I mentioned to a nice man at work about how I was baffled by the concept of pumpkin pie, and he looked as shocked as you do now.” She grinned at the kids. “Imagine how surprised I was on the Monday morning after Thanksgiving, when he pulled me aside to the break room. He handed me a little box, and inside it was a slice of pie. He must have carried it very carefully with him on the train from home. He apologised for it being a few days old, but he said he couldn’t have me believing that all pumpkin pie was like what we got given in Europe. 

“Then he told me not to tell anyone I had it or I’d start a riot, as some of the men from the city hadn’t been able to get hold of any that year, because of the egg shortage. His sister’s chickens, he told me proudly, were prolific layers of fine eggs, and this same sister was an exceptional baker of pies. Then, with a small wink, he left me to it.”

“I don’t think he said it as fancy as that,” Daniel muttered, but the children didn’t notice. 

“Did you like it?” asked Charlie eagerly, digging his spoon into his own slice of pie with great enthusiasm. 

Peggy grinned. “I think you could say I was a convert.”

“Always gotta have a hand in every pie, don’t you Peg?” put in Stark. 

“Very droll, Howard,” said Peggy, shaking her head. 

“What happened to the nice man?” asked Katie innocently, and the adults grinned at each other. 

“Well, the next year at Thanksgiving, I was still all on my own. I was longing to know what a real American Thanksgiving was like, and he’d made it sound so nice last year, that I was half hoping he might invite me to join his family. I had a funny feeling that he wanted to ask me, too. But he must have thought it wouldn’t have been appropriate, because he never did.” 

“Cost me five bucks to Agent Henry when he didn’t,” mumbled Jack, and Daniel made a small explosive sound, somewhere between a cough and a snort. 

Peggy fought to keep a straight face, not looking at either of them. “Instead, I had Thanksgiving with my friend Angie and her family, which was definitely an improvement on being alone; but I did think about the nice man and his lovely family, and wondered whether the chickens had laid enough eggs for them to enjoy their pumpkin pie together. And they must have done, because on Monday morning there was another little box on my desk with a slice of pie for me! Even though he knew I must have had plenty that year with Angie’s family. There was no word of explanation, and all day he never once came near me so that I could thank him.”

“Why not?” asked Katie. 

Peggy thought carefully how to answer her. She still wasn’t entirely confident at talking at a child’s level, and didn’t know how much longer she could hold their interest with this impromptu story. “I think he was sad, because he was going to be moving away very soon, and it was hard to know how we could still be friends after that.” That would have to do. 

“Oh,” said Katie sadly. 

“So you never had Thanksgiving with his family?” asked Charlie. 

“As a matter of fact, I did!” Peggy smiled broadly at them. “For my third ever Thanksgiving, the nice man took me to meet his family, and it was simply splendid. They were just as wonderful as I’d imagined.” She couldn’t think now how to make the necessary revelation neatly. 

“Charlie,” said Ines softly. “Do you remember how many Thanksgivings Miss Carter said she’d had?”

“Four!” piped up Maddie. She hadn’t been following most of the story, but she was keenly aware of the number four lately, with her fourth birthday rapidly approaching. 

“So if this is the fourth one,” added Tillie with a smile, “can you remember where she was last year, for her third one?”

“She was with us, wasn’t she?” said Charlie, confused. 

“But wasn’t she with the nice man’s family?” wondered Katie. 

“Tio Daniel!” shouted Charlie. “Tio Daniel is the nice man!”

The whole table laughed at the look on Katie’s face as she put it together. 

“And this year,” Peggy continued, taking Daniel’s hand, “I’m about to marry my nice man!”

“Please tell me that name isn’t going to stick,” said Daniel with a long-suffering look. 

“Don’t pay any attention to him,” Peggy told the children, waving her hand dismissively in his face. “All I mean is that each Thanksgiving I’ve had has been better than the last - though I don’t suppose we’ll ever be able to beat this one! So, Katie, what I’m thankful for is that after feeling all alone just a few years ago, I’m here now with a wonderful family which is about to become  _ my  _ family, and all my dear friends, and I never have to feel lonely like that again.” Katie was looking very serious and sombre, so Peggy added happily: “And I’m thankful for pumpkin pie! A culinary masterpiece that your mother has made for me for four years in a row now, even if she didn’t know it!”

*** 

Later that night, Ines was tucking the children into bed. They had all stayed up past their bedtimes, and Maddie had fallen asleep on Ines’ shoulder as she’d been carried up the stairs. 

“Has it been a good Thanksgiving?” She asked Katie and Charlie. Charlie replied “Yes!” immediately, but Katie looked troubled. “What’s wrong, darling?” asked Ines. “Does it feel strange being in a different house?”

Katie shook her head. “Mommy,” she said, “I’m sad that Miss Carter was lonely. She’s so happy and beautiful. I don’t want her to be sad.”

It took Ines a second to think what she was referring to. “Oh, sweetheart,” she said. “Maybe she was lonely for a while, once upon a time, but she’s not anymore. Remember why?”

“Because Tio Daniel brought her pie!” Charlie said confidently. 

Ines smiled. “That’s right. But I don’t think it was the pie that made her happy. I think it was because Tio Daniel noticed that she was lonely, and showed her that he was thinking about her.”

“But why was she lonely?” persisted Katie. “Why didn’t anyone want to be her friend?”

Ines took her hand. “Miss Carter moved here from a long way away. All her friends and family were back in England. It takes time to make new friends in a new place. It doesn’t mean people weren’t nice to her or didn’t like her. It just takes time. But we can always look out for people who are new somewhere, who might be feeling a bit lonely like she was. Just think, if you’re kind to them like Tio Daniel was for Miss Carter, you can make them feel so much better!”

Katie pondered this. “I think Tio Daniel must be a very good man,” she said sagely. 

“He is,” smiled Ines. “And now he gets to marry a very good woman, and they make each other very happy. I don’t want you to worry about Miss Carter. We can all feel sad sometimes, but the important thing is that it doesn’t last forever, and there are always people who care about us. Alright?” Katie nodded, and they all said bedtime prayers. As she pulled the door closed, Ines sent up a word of thanks for her tender-hearted girl. 

**Author's Note:**

> OK, so we all know that attempting to piece together timelines for this world is a headache. We know Peggy did spend some time in America during the war, but as far as I can make out, there’s no evidence she was ever there in November, so I’m going to say she never was. My thinking for the post-war years is as follows:
> 
> Nov 1945 — Either she or Daniel (or both) have just started at the NY SSR (6 months before she supposedly planted the metaphorical knife in Daniel’s back, May 1946. I always took that as canon, but apparently I’m wrong. Ah well.)  
> Nov 1946 — Not long before Daniel moves to LA. Things are awkward and frosty between the two of them.  
> Nov 1947 — They’ve been seeing each other for a few months. Daniel naturally takes her home to the family.  
> Nov 1948 — Nuptials!
> 
> Historical notes:  
> The egg shortage was a real thing that year. Also, maybe this is common knowledge in America, but apparently in the early ‘40s FDR tried a couple of times to change which week in November Thanksgiving was celebrated — whether it was the last Thursday, or the fourth, or indeed the third, and finally he officially settled on the fourth. It was hugely controversial and got all political, and apparently some states refused to use the new date. 1944, for example, was a five-Thursday November, so half the country went with the fourth Thursday, and half with the last (fifth) Thursday. It occurred to me that this would have created an interesting dynamic among the soldiers overseas, where people from all states would be mixed up together in close quarters, all loyally adhering to their preferred date! 
> 
> P.S. I have no idea how well pumpkin pie keeps. Please suspend disbelief as required.


End file.
